I'm Nobody

by free man writer

He didn't have anything when he was born. Just a name and number. But over time, what he had grew. He, with his friends began to understand that there was more to their existence then just their name and number. They will prove that they were meant to be real. To exist. To become something more than just a Nobody. Co-written and created with Jebest4781. Fem Shepard. Now on Ao3.

31. Don't Say Goodbye

I'm Nobody Chapter 31: Don't say Goodbye.

"We just never get a moment, do we?"

"No. That would be asking too much of the universe."

"And you're all sure you're all ok?"

"Us? Aren't you six the ones that survived a base collapsing in on itself?"

"Ih."

"It's ok Stitch."

"We've survived a volcanic cave when we first met Liara. We're not the ones who fought some ultra-strong bastard that can summon meteors."

"I think what we need is a month. At least one month where no insanity happens to any of us. I know it's asking for much but it doesn't hurt to try at least."

"I hear that."

"Think we can negotiate for two?"

"Let's… let's not go that far just yet." Said Shepard.

Neither side of the Normandy team were truly expecting whatever news the other had during their time separated. Upon their reunion, both groups saw each other's states and discussions came soon after.

Suffice to say, neither knew if the other had it better.

"So this Sephiroth." Ash leaned on the table the team sat around. "What did you get out of him?"

"Other than him being a psycho?" Garrus asked rhetorically. "He's freakishly more powerful than anyone and anything we've faced."

"He is." Roxas confirmed, face grim. "We barely survived him."

"It felt like he was just toying with us." Xion admitted with a shiver.

"Jesus." Kaidan said quietly. "What the hell was that guys deal? What did he want?"

"He was looking for me." Roxas murmured. "He wanted to test me. To fight me."

"He seemed particularly interested in Roxas' Keyblade." Garrus pointed out.

"So he was after Roxas' Keyblade then?" Liara inquired.

"No, it felt more like a test." Tali said. "Like Xion said. We even heard him ask about it and wondered out loud if he were to beat Roxas, would his Keyblade switch users."

"He could have." Roxas openly admitted. "Sephiroth could have easily done it."

"Roxas." Ashley spoke in a flat tone. "Please don't admit that. I'd rather not get anymore cold sweats about people out there that can easily kill us. It's bad enough that everything we know has gotten turned on its head forever."

"I don't even know if I'm getting gray hairs because of it." Kaidan muttered to himself, hand grazing over his hair. "Or losing it from stress alone."

"I think in this line of work, it's inevitable." Shepard glumly stated.

"Wow, great pep talk Shepard." Axel quipped. "Best one I've heard from you since we met."

"Shove it Axel." Jane shot back. "You know I'm just kidding."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Axel said, running his hand through his hair. "These locks will remain vibrant and red till the day I die."

"Didn't you already technically die?" Garrus asked.

"Alright, second death, whatever. Same difference."

"Does losing your heart count as death?" Liara asked with Roxas and Xion shrugging and Axel frowning.

"I'd rather not talk about it." No. VIII said quietly.

The team visibly flinched at the fiery redhead's sudden change in tone and demeanor and did just as he said.

"Ok, so Sephiroth is now someone we have to deal with." Garrus said.

"And what of that Cerberus base?" Tali inquired. "How badly did it get destroyed?"

Jane shook her head. "Don't know if the Alliance can possibly salvage anything from the ruins. The time alone will be a while."

"I know the Alliance is in for a field day." Ashley stated. "A Vice-Admiral is dead cause of Cerberus. They can't take this lightly anymore."

"They may have to ignore this for a bit." Kaidan said.

"What now?" Ash angrily said. "Why in the hell would they do that?!"

"Humanity has recently joined the Council." Liara reminded the Operations Chief. "The Systems Alliance already has their hands full with this adjustment period they are undertaking now that they have a more profound voice on the Citadel and the galaxy at large."

Shepard groaned aloud. "Yeah don't remind me of that."

"So what do we do now then?" Roxas asked. "Should we go after Sephiroth? Or Cerberus?"

"Roxas, there's no way in the deepest pits of hell that we're going after that long sword freak." Ash dryly said.

"And Cerberus…" Kaidan mused internally for a few seconds. "They're probably gonna keep their heads down for a while. That base that was brought down was enormous and more than likely important with all the shit they were cooking up."

"I know we've got the Reapers to deal with and the Organization but now we have two more factors that I feel like are gonna be serious pains in the ass in the future." Axel stated, getting disparaging grunts of annoyed agreements.

"Then we do nothing with either of them?" Roxas asked.

"Unfortunately for the time being." Shepard said with a slightly defeated tone. "All we can do… is just take one step at a time for now. No need to rush into anything."

"Cause they're more likely to rush right into us." Garrus couldn't help but say.

"Too true." Kaidan snorted.

Jane held a small melancholy smile at her team before turning to Tali.

"So Tali, I take it everything is all set then?" Shepard asked, making the entire group turn to the Quarian.

She folded her hands together and twiddled her thumbs while shifting about uncomfortably.

"Y-Yes." Tali finally admitted. "I have everything I need to return to the Flotilla."

"Do you really have to go?" Ashley asked quietly, a forlorn look in her eyes.

Tali only nodded. "I've been away from the Flotilla long enough and everything I've gathered… it will change everything for my people."

"Giving the Quarians a better fighting chance." Garrus said approvingly.

"But must you leave right now?" Liara inquired softly.

Tali shared a look with the Asari Archeologist before gazing upon her group of friends that she had spent the last few months with practically every single day.

"Not right away." Tali said quietly.

"Well then." Axel lightly slammed his hands on the table. "Guess we have some stuff to do then before you gotta go back."

"Like what?"

-Scene Cut-

The group of the Normandy was out and about within the Silversun Strip, Garrus and Axel constantly cracking jokes at the expense of the others.

Mostly due to the fact that they had encountered Heartless and a crazed swordsman in the Arnax Arena the two times they had gone to that place.

Right now, they weren't focused so much on combat as they were on just enjoying their time together.

No doubt neither of them will go to the Arnax Arena anytime soon.

At the moment, the Normandy members truly needed some time to enjoy themselves before the eventual departures.

So that's what they did.

Games, restaurants, sightseeing, browsing through stores and all.

They figured this might be the last time in a while all of them would be together like this. Just… having fun.

Not worrying about enemies or threats.

Not fearing a sudden attack though that's frankly never out of the question.

It was just a group of friends spending time together.

Currently, Roxas was with Liara, Kaidan, Tali and Axel in an arcade, playing some kind of virtual game of an Earth sport called soccer or football on other places on that planet.

Though drastically changed up for a more exciting galactic scale.

"It's not fair!" Liara whined, slightly limping a bit. "You and Axel are stronger than any one of us. How can we keep up with you?"

"Uh, Liara?" Kaidan held an amused look. "You do remember that we agreed to see who would win third place right?"

"Yes but I wanted to see if we can catch up with Roxas and Axel." Liara said, almost childishly.

"Looks like our archeologist has a competitive streak to her." Tali lightly teased.

Liara only responded by crossing her arms petulantly and harrumphing to herself.

"Maybe something better on your alley?"

"Perhaps."

"Hey guys."

They turned to see Shepard coming up to them with Xion by her side.

"Hey Commander." Axel saluted mockingly.

"At ease, jackass." Jane remarked, looking past them at the game they were just playing. "So, who won out of the three of you?"

"Kaidan." Tali thumbed at him. "He is still military trained."

"Right." Jane nodded. "And you two?"

"Me." Axel said cockily.

"That's because you cheated!" Roxas shot back at him.

"It was just a sneeze." Axel said innocently.

"Yes, clearly a sneeze that produces fire." Tali said flatly.

"My element is fire after all." Axel countered.

"Cheater." Roxas grumped.

"Winner." Axel said, flicking the blond's hood over his eyes.

Shepard only laughed at the interaction with Xion joining in.

"Shepard and I found a great game for all of us to play together." Xion piped up. "Garrus and Ashley are there waiting for us. We can all join in."

"Sounds like a plan." Kaidan nodded.

"Will they allow cheaters in the game?" Roxas lightly asked, making Axel take his hood and shove it over his face this time.

"Oh I'm sorry, do I hear a loser talking?"

"No, my bullshit meter is just on full alert right now." Roxas retorted with Axel laughing.

"So it works then? Great. Was kinda scared that you wouldn't have it."

Jane laughed at the interaction of her friends when a familiar someone caught the corner of her eye.

She looked over at a game booth and saw a Salarian sitting adjacent to an Asari playing what she would best describe to be… space chess? Yeah, space chess.

The Asari abruptly shot her hand back, flicking it about from a sudden shock. She looked at the Salarian before her and nodded her head, conceding the game. The Salarian nodded back and remained seated as he turned his gaze back down at the game before him.

Squinting her eyes a bit, Shepard walked around to get a better look at the Salarian and in an instant-

"Captain Kirrahe?"

The seated Salarian blinked in question, looked up at the human Spectre and immediately perked up.

"Commander Shepard." The Salarian said happily, getting up out of his seat to greet her. "What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Major." Shepard said pleasantly.

"I do enjoy the games here, Commander." Kirrahe admitted without any hesitation. "One of the few places I can relax and stimulate my mind at once."

"Uh-huh." Shepard said in amusement. "Video games, huh?"

"Yes, yes." Kirrahe nodded quickly. "Greatly enjoyable with many varieties of tactics involved depending on the game you choose to play."

"Right." Shepard said in amusement.

"But glad to have had this chance encounter with you Commander." Kirrahe said with a more appreciative smile in place now.

"Oh?"

Kirrahe nodded. "I can thank you now in person after you came to Virmire when we asked for it. I may have lost many of my men on that planet but your intervention prevented more from being wiped out and made sure my unit survived to fight another day."

"Just doing our job."

The Salarian gave a brief nod. "And how is Ms. Duck? Haven't seen her since we parted ways after the Council meeting."

"Returned back home some time ago." Shepard said. "She sent her regards."

Kirrahe simply smiled. "And how is the rest of your crew? Alive and well I take it?"

"Alive, yeah." Shepard said whimsically. "Well… working on getting there right now."

"Understandable. I know you have all been busy these last few months. Heartless, Geth, Saren and so on."

"Among other things." Shepard mumbled.

"With such mess behind us, we must focus on the future and survive another tomorrow."

"Words of wisdom if ever there was any." Jane now felt inexplicably tired, something Kirrahe instantly picked up on.

"Commander."

She looked up at the Captain who leaned over to her in a rather conspiratorial manner.

"My team and I fully believe in what you have espoused about the Reapers." Kirrahe said in complete seriousness. "Saw witness to them on Virmire and was informed by one of my men that you had helped free what Saren was doing in his base."

"Ganto Imness?"

"Yes."

"How is he?"

"Doing better. Taking his weekly therapy sessions to overcome his ordeal."

"Good… Then you know what's coming." Shepard said, expression grim. "You know what we're up against."

"Have many connections." Kirrahe stated. "Politicians may litigate things but I can at least get something going for the Salarians."

"Are you serious Kirrahe?" Shepard said in complete surprise.

She certainly wasn't expecting this sort of thing out of the Captain.

Kirrahe gave her a rather mischievous smile. "Have a brother in high places that will allow me to get things started for us."

"You'd do that?" Jane nearly whispered.

"You helped save our lives. It's the least I can do to repay the favor."

"That's quite the way to repay a favor, Captain."

"And yet, feels like it is only a small part to play in the bigger picture." Kirrahe admitted. "What I witnessed on Virmire, what I experienced on top of what has recently transpired in the galaxy… I feel a great deal of turmoil is on the horizon and it is coming sooner than later. Must start making preparations for it now."

"I…" Shepard was momentarily at a loss for words until she exhaled with a wide smile appearing. "Thank you Captain. I haven't gotten that much good news as of late but this…"

"No thanks needed, Commander." Kirrahe said humbly. "Just doing the job that has been instilled in me since I joined STG."

"Hold the line?"

"Without question."

"Shepard, there you are."

The Spectre jolted a bit from the statement that came from behind.

Shepard turned back to see Liara and Axel standing behind her.

"Uh, hey guys." Shepard said, her mind taking a moment to register what it was she was originally supposed to do with her friends. "Oh~ right. Sorry about that. Just caught sight of an old friend."

"Old friend?" Axel looked past Jane and at Kirrahe.

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he silently mouthed to himself just who it was that was so familiar to him.

"Hang on a second." Axel said. "Aren't you-"

"Captain Kirrahe." Liara said in recognition, expression brightening upon realizing who it was. "It is good to see a friendly face."

"Ah! Good to see you again Doctor T'soni." Kirrahe said with a fond smile. "And Axel, if memory serves me correctly. It is good to see the crew that helped save my team appear here in high spirits."

"Well, we are here to relax after all." Axel said with an easygoing shrug.

The Salarian gave a nod to the pair.

"Anything new after Virmire?"

"Not much, I'm afraid." Said Kirrahe. "Care for a game of Kepesh-Yakshi?"

No. VIII shook his head 'no'. "Not my cup of tea. But thanks for asking."

Liara, however…

"If you're offering, I wouldn't mind."

Axel and Shepard shared a look which Liara caught sight of.

"What~?" She asked petulantly.

The two redheads snorted.

"Nothing." They said in unison.

Liara's cheeks puffed out before she turned to face Kirrahe.

"Come Captain." Liara said in a far more friendly manner directed at the Salarian who simply nodded and gestured over to the opposite seat on the table.

"Alright Liara, have fun." Shepard said. "Just make sure not to lose all your credits here."

Liara gave the Spectre an annoyed look before hearing the Salarian captain speak to her.

"You may have the first move, doctor."

"See ya two." Axel said as he and Jane departed to rejoin their friends who were waiting for them at another game.

Liara rolled her eyes a little before smiling at Kirrahe as they began their game.

Over with the rest of the team, they patiently waited for their wayward three friends who had wandered off.

Xion had gotten a bit thirsty and with Tali and Garrus, went off to get a drink while they waited.

Kaidan and Ash were off towards the entrance line and were discussing matters on weapons and what other games to play.

Roxas stood off to the side by his lonesome for the moment with an ice cream stick in hand.

It was all eaten by this time with the stick dangling from the corner of his lips with him idly looking around the arcade area.

No. XIII just didn't know what game to play next.

"Well, well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise."

Roxas blinked at the slightly familiar flangling voice and turned to see the familiar tattooed face of-

"Mr. Oraka?" Roxas said in familiarity with the Turian General chuckling.

"Now, now." Oraka said, still laughing. "I may have lived a decent life but Mr. is something that I wish to hear far later on down the line."

Septimus Oraka, General of the Turian Hierarchy was one of the very first couple of people Roxas had met when he first arrived here on the Citadel.

"What're you doing here?" Roxas asked.

Oraka gestured back to another building not far from them and the Nobody saw that it was a casino.

"I've been catching up with some of my old friends from the Hierarchy. Some war buddies and soldiers of mine and since I've opted to remain in service rather than retire, my men have taken it upon themselves for me to enjoy myself tonight."

"That's nice." Roxas said.

Oraka chuckled. "Yes, quite so. They are good soldiers, all of them. And better friends."

"Friends huh?" Roxas had a smile appear on his face. "Yeah, I'm with my friends right now too. We're playing some games right now to pass the time."

"You have free time now?" Oraka asked jokingly in disbelief. "I would have thought you would all be on some galactic adventure to save a planet from a warlord or rush in daringly to prevent the Citadel from being attacked again."

Roxas laughed at those comments. "We've been more or less exhausted as of late through a string of circumstances. Not to mention most of us are leaving the Normandy and going our separate ways."

"Are you now?" Oraka said quietly. "And why is that?"

"Personal reasons."

"I see." Oraka muttered. "But… after everything I've heard that the first human Spectre has accomplished with the crew of the Normandy, I take it that when the time comes you'll all come together once more?"

Roxas looked up at the general in slight surprise before a confident grin appeared on the teens face.

"You know it." Roxas stated. "That's a promise."

Oraka nodded with a satisfied expression. "That is good to hear. We need more individuals and groups such as yourselves in this galaxy. Makes it feel safer for others out there knowing that teams like the one's on the Normandy are here and present to help when they can."

Roxas rubbed the back of his head with a bashful expression when a stray thought crossed his mind.

"I don't see Sha'ira around."

Oraka snorted. "Well Roxas, much as I envision her as my dream woman, this is what you humans have called a guy's night out. Can't have her attached to my hip all the time."

"Oh." Roxas nodded understandingly. "But you are still seeing her, right?"

"Naturally, my boy." Septimus said happily. "Our relationship feels stronger than ever. We were even supposed to spend some time later tonight in the evening."

Roxas bobbed his head up and down at the General's words when he tilted his head.

"Wait, were?"

"Unfortunately Sha'ira won't be able to make it with me tonight on our dinner reservation." Oraka said airily. "Though I understand her plight, she, like myself, is a very busy woman. She has other clients to attend to, other matters that demand her attention."

"Right."

Oraka hummed to himself, momentarily regarding Roxas with a skewed eye.

"Tell me Roxas, what are your plans for tonight?" The Turian inquired.

Roxas blinked for a moment. "Uh… Well Axel said we're just winging it and going with the flow."

"So nothing officially planned for the evening I take it?"

Roxas shook his head as confirmation.

"Then perhaps you and your friends can take my table tonight."

"Your table?" Roxas frowned in thought. "You mean the one you had for you and Sha'ira?

"Yes. I'll forward it to you for you and your team." Oraka said, bringing up his Omni-Tool.

"You sure?"

"Least I can do."

The greater Nobody scratched his sandy blonde locks with an unsure look on his face. "Don't even know if we can get a bigger table due to… numbers."

"I'll call ahead and make the arrangements." Oraka said offhandedly. "How many?"

"Uh… nine… ten."

"No problem." Said the General, who pulled out his Omni-tool and typed away on the hard light screen. "And… done."

A moment later, Roxas received a ping from his Omni-tool and he brought it up to see that he now had the reservations from Oraka.

"Wow." Roxas said. "Thanks General."

"You can call me Septimus or Oraka, Roxas." The Turian said kindly. "I consider you a friend by this point."

Roxas gave him a wide smile. "Heh~ thanks Septimus. I owe you."

"Was it not I who was repaying a debt?" Oraka asked rhetorically with a small chuckle.

Roxas then looked at his Omni-tool again. "So where's this place at?"

"Ryuusei's Sushi Bar."

The name of the restaurant sounded familiar to Roxas, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Huh… maybe my friends know where that is." Roxas remarked.

"Then I shall not keep you." Oraka said. "Besides, I figure my own soldiers and comrades are wondering where I wandered off to. Take care, Roxas. I hope to see you once more."

"Bye Oraka." Roxas waved as the Turian walked away.

He looked back and saw the rest of his friends had come together again and appeared to be looking around for him.

"Wonder if they know about this sushi place." Roxas asked himself, walking back to his friends.

-Scene Cut-

"YOU GOT RESERVATIONS TO THE RYUUSEI'S SUSHI BAR?!"

Roxas' ears were ringing and his eyes were swirling about as he was violently shaken by Tali and Ashley.

The others watched on with amusement save for Xion who was showing confused concern.

"Keep that up and he'll get a severe case of whiplash." Axel quipped.

"I don't understand." Xion looked at the others. "What's so special about this sushi place?"

"It's insanely expensive and hard to get into." Kaidan stated. "And we just got a free pass for our entire group thanks to Roxas."

"Is it really that good?" Axel inquired, now curious.

"The time to make a reservation on it is believed to be a few weeks at best to months at worst."

"And Roxas here just got us one on a silver platter." Shepard said in amused disbelief. "Geez, the impossible really is possible now since meeting him."

"Don't take it that far." Axel said. "Lest you want more insanity."

"I'm pretty sure that's out the window by this point." Kaidan said. "What time is the reservation again?"

"A few hours from now." Liara said. "Late in the evening."

"I am a bit hungry after that game." Xion said.

"Sure, let's grab a bite." Shepard said. "Keep it at a minimum. We got a chance to go to the best sushi bar on the Citadel. I intend to sample every dish."

"Oh~ the Commander is serious." Axel jokingly said in awe.

"Yeah, she used higher vernacular there." Kaidan joined in.

"Shut up." Jane dryly said.

By this point, Ash and Tali had at last released the dazed and frazzled Roxas who looked like he was about to fall over.

"Oops." Tali and Ash said at the same time.

"Sorry bout that Roxas." Ashley cringed, smiling despite herself.

Xion had to quickly catch the sandy blonde as he was stumbling in his step from the recent shake down.

"Place must be something special to get you this giddy from your usual giddy." Axel pointed out.

"Kinda like Liara when we get near Prothean stuff." Garrus remarked, the group laughing at the joke with Liara crossing her arms.

"Is today 'make fun of Liara' day?" The Asari grumbled childishly.

Ash threw her arm around Liara. "Come on, my sisters can take a better thrashing than that, Li."

"Unlike you, I didn't have siblings to constantly harp on me." Liara said with a pout.

"What about Roxas and I?" Xion asked.

"You two have Axel." Garrus reminded in a "duh" fashion.

Xion's hair was promptly messed up courtesy of the older Nobody, the girl glaring up at him with her cheeks puffed out.

Tali however was still over the moon upon learning she'd be going to the Ryuusei's Sushi bar.

"Jeez Tali, if you keep going like that, you'll jump right out of your suit." Ash chided jokingly.

"I just can't help it." She was practically bouncing on her spot with her lightly clapping her hands together. "I've always wanted to go to that sushi bar since I first heard about it. The reviews are all good. All of them!"

Tali then scooped up Roxas into a crushing hug as she spun him around.

"I honestly don't know if you're trying to make this last day on the Normandy memorable for me, Roxas." She practically squealed.

"I think he's trying to breathe right about now." Kaidan snorted at the sight of a flailing Roxas.

Tali realized this and promptly dropped him, seeing his dazed expression once again.

"Oops." The Quarian said abashedly. "Sorry Roxas."

He only groaned in response and flopped down onto his back in a daze.

"So why is this sushi place so special anyhow?" Axel asked the group overall.

"The sushi place we're going to. I know most of the staff there preferably might not let me go in there. But I thought that if I've proven my worth to the galaxy, I could eat there someday." Tali said with a determined voice before snorting aloud. "Just didn't realize it would come to fruition already."

"Well it's a good thing you ran into Roxas when you first came here to the Citadel." Stated Alenko, causing Tali to blush underneath her helmet as she looked to No. XIII who was helped back up to his feet.

"Yeah." She softly said to herself. "I got really lucky with him."

"Whelp, I'm feeling a bit peckish right now." Garrus piped up. "Come on, I saw a bar nearby that'll hold us over until we go to the sushi bar."

"I'm actually up for some more games." Axel said. "Liara?"

"No, no." The Asari shook her head. "I've had my fill thank you very much."

The group separated once more as a result.

With each of them originally not having plans tonight now obtained one. This left the unfortunate annoyance for them all to figure out what to do until assembling for dinner.

Garrus led his group of Xion, Liara, Roxas, Tali and Ashley into a nearby upstairs bar whilst Shepard led her own to continue their foray into the arcade area.

Upon entering the establishment, their ears were assaulted with the upbeat music playing in the background. People were dancing on the opposite side of the area while others lounged at the other. And at said location is where Garrus' group intended to reach for the time being.

"This place is really loud." Xion said over the blasting music.

"What's this place even for?" Roxas asked.

He had been to places like Chora's Den but it was more subdued and while there were many scantily dressed Asari there, Roxas ignored it entirely.

Now however… a lot of scantily dressed women were in his face and he recoiled a bit from it all.

"This is where you come to make bad decisions in life intentionally." Ash advised, giving a death glare towards an Asari that eyed the young blond teen.

"Yeah~ And right now it's not really intentional on my part." Garrus remarked.

"Besides, I doubt the barkeep will give you two any alcohol given your age." Chief Williams said, nudging Xion and Roxas.

"Then you two will just get club soda or something close." Garrus said.

"What's alcohol even do?" Roxas asked Xion with the girl simply shrugging.

"Axel told me not to drink it when he did." Xion murmured. "Though…. There was Barsoom and the wedding celebration."

"Oh~ it does that and more. But that's something better discussed back on the Normandy." Vakarian said, the group seated themselves at the bar. "And in the presence of Shepard. And Axel…. And probably Kaidan. He seems responsible enough."

"What about me? I have four sisters."

"And yet… so much left to be desired." Garrus said in faux disappointment.

Ashley lightly shoved him against her shoulder as the bartender approached them with a small tray of glasses.

Liara, Tali, Roxas and Xion got their drinks and some small snacks whilst Garrus and Ashley got a number of shots between them.

"Are you sure you two want to do this now?" Liara asked.

"Relax, it'll just be a quick game." Ash waved off her friend's concern. "Besides, Dad always told me that alcohol helps with food."

"Does it?" Tali asked with the Alliance Marine shrugging as she turned to face the Turian.

"Rules are simple. I take a shot, you take a shot. Hesitate? Game over." Garrus said, sliding several shots towards her.

"This shouldn't take too long." Ash remarked confidently.

"I'll go easy on ya so you don't break a nail… princess."

"Oh you did not just say that."

"I did."

"I'm gonna enjoy this."

"I've seen how you deal with a few drinks, Ashley. And they're quite messy."

"Ancient history."

"Yeah, like not that long ago on Carter and Dejah's wedding."

"...You are a Deadman, Vakarian."

"I hear you chattering but not drinking."

Their spectators looked on in concern.

"Um…. should we do something about them?" Xion asked with Tali shaking her head.

"It's better not to." Said the Quarian. "You know how bullheaded and stubborn they can be."

"Quite." Liara said in agreement. "That seems to be a common trait shared amongst the team."

As the group sat and enjoyed their drinks and small snacks, Xion opted to look around the area and blinked to herself upon realizing there was a big, hulking Krogan seated right next to her.

'Guess I wasn't really paying attention.' Xion internally thought as she gazed up at the large Krogan.

He appeared to be even bigger than Wrex somewhat.

"-And here I thought you would put your Asari charms to good use, Liara. After all, you did so well back on Helium."

"We are not talking about that anymore, Garrus."

"I mean there were so many-"

Xion tuned out the conversation in the background as she took a moment to get a proper look at this Krogan.

Yes, they've taken out plenty of Krogan during their hunt for Saren. It became enough that many of their kind seemed to blur together.

It was only with Wrex's presence did they at least get the chance to differentiate them to some degree.

He appeared to be a rather old Krogan, barring a number of bones which decorated his yellow-orange armor.

His skin was of a darker tint as was his head crest.

And again, the bones.

A lot of bones.

There was an uncomfortable amount of bones decorating the armor the Krogan wore making Xion wonder if these were real bones or… no, no they're definitely real.

Xion had learned that Krogan seldom ever did things in half measures. Wrex taught her that.

Unfortunately, No. XIV was soon caught by the Krogan who instantly glared at her.

"The hell are you looking at?" The Krogan gruffly asked in a threatening manner.

"Oh, uh, sorry." Xion murmured looking away.

The Krogan's leer evaporated at the sight of the shy girl with his expression barely softening.

"It's alright." He grunt a moment later. "Just rude to stare is all kid."

Xion didn't respond verbally, instead looking back up at him.

"Look a bit young to be here, kid." the armored Krogan stated. "You with somebody?"

"My friends." Xion thumbed behind her, the Krogan looking over to two other humans, a Turian, Asari and Quarian all seated together.

"They're your friends?" The Krogan asked in surprise, Xion nodding in confirmation. "Weird group you got there."

"It is?"

The Krogan huffed in amusement. "To most."

"I guess." Xion murmured thoughtfully.

"Hmph." The Krogan grunted a laugh.

"I'm Xion."

She was met with a silent stare for a few seconds until-

"Drack. Nakmor Drack." Said the aged Krogan.

"Nice to meet you." Xion said pleasantly.

"That's a first." Drack mumbled. "You don't look all that scared."

"You're not the scariest person I've met." Xion said in complete sincerity making the Krogan burst out in laughter, drawing the attention of Roxas, Tali and Liara.

"Make a new friend, Xion?" Tali asked with Xion nodding.

"This is Drack." Xion said happily, making Drack snort.

"Your friend here likes to stare."

"Roxas has that same problem." Tali said, Roxas pouting in response.

The group then managed to hear the groan of someone in pain over the sound of the thumping music.

The four of them leaned over their seats and looked past Drack to see a human slumped down next to the ground right next to him.

"What happened to this guy?" Roxas couldn't help but ask.

"Hmmm?" Drack glanced down at the human beside him. "Oh yeah, him. Some idiot got talked into by his friends in a headbutting contest with me. Didn't work out in his favor."

He lightly shoved the human over.

"Some friends." Spoke the dark haired Nobody. "Must've hurt with your big head crest."

The aged Krogan let out a small snort.

"Not wise to challenge a Krogan to a headbutting contest." Drack said pridefully, gazing over at the group he was now conversing with.

"You're a weird group, you know that?" Drack blurted out a moment later.

"We get that quite often." Liara admitted.

The yellow armored Krogan narrowed his eyes at them, looking at them analytically.

"Hang on… I've seen your faces-"

-Insert Hitman Absolution: The Bar-

"Hey, you." came a rude interruption from behind them.

Looking back, they saw a group of individuals congregating in front of them. It was comprised of a Batarian, a Vorcha and even a couple of humans and Turians.

"Uh… yes?" Garrus asked.

"We know you punks." A Batarian said angrily. "You're all from the Normandy aren't you?"

"The Normandy." Drack said to himself, feeling like he's heard that name before.

"Yeah…" Roxas said slowly with a confused look directed to his friends who all shrugged.

"Because of you, a lot of my friends got hurt a while back." The Batarian spat out.

"We hurt your friends?" Xion asked in genuine worry.

"That's right you brat." A human now spoke. "And now we're gonna hurt you."

"Hey." Roxas jumped out from his seat with an enraged face. "Don't talk to her like that."

"Listen." Garrus intervened, trying to defuse the situation. "We hurt a lot of people… more so then I'm willing to admit now that I think about it. If we did hurt any of your friends, we did so because they were coming to kill us."

"And if you mentioned we hurt them and not kill, be lucky they aren't dead." Ash tacked on.

"Not helping, Williams." Garrus grumbled from the corner of his mouth.

"You're all nothing more than a bunch of bastards." A Turian aggressively said. "Who do you think you are just attacking our friends like that?!"

"Look, you're drunk and not in the right mind-"

"Wasn't talking to you, bitch."

Ash's eye twitched upon hearing that. "You know, being called a bitch is quite negative. But frankly it can show how strong and confident and outright terrifying I can be."

"Pfft, yeah right." A human, who was very intoxicated said. "What can a couple of snot nosed punks, a vagrant, bitch, slut and Turian with a pole up his ass do?"

The glare Roxas and Xion now shared along with Tali and Liara was something quite fierce.

It was then did Drack pick up from there. "You can take your boney ass outta here before I make your ugly face worse. I mean geez you look like Jeff Goldblum."

"...That last one didn't sound like an insult."

"From the Fly."

"FUCK YOU!"

"He knows about the Fly?" Ash whispered in disbelief. "How does a Krogan know about the Fly?"

"What's the Fly?" Roxas and Xion asked at once with Williams giving them a flat look.

The Operations Chief let out a sigh, placing her hand in her face. "Where are the humans who get the references when you need them?"

The group of drunk idiots now looked ready to pounce on them.

"Seems like they're up for a fight." Garrus noted.

"Sadly so." Liara said with narrowed eyes.

"Don't know if it's gonna be a fair one." Xion stated.

Drack rose an inquisitive brow when hearing the recent statement. It didn't seem arrogant at all. "Oh? And why's that?"

"Cause they're clearly out of their league with us." Roxas said, tensing up.

"If they're starting it, we're finishing it." Tali said, Omni-tool appearing in hand.

Some of the drunkards laughed upon hearing this.

"Oh yeah? You and what army?"

"Outside of having a Krogan here, who's minding his own business, we're considered as one." Ash said, knuckles cracking.

Drack glanced back momentarily before briefly sharing a look with Xion and let out a sigh.

Placing his cup on the counter, Drack turned around and stood up straight to show off his imposing stature. As he did, he cricked his neck with an audible growl emanating from his lips.

Roxas was about to call for his Keyblade when he felt Liara place a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think that will be necessary Roxas." She said softly. "That might be… what's that human word? Overkill? Yes… that."

"Right then." Garrus shrugged and immediately punched a human down.

Liara shot a Biotic coupled with some low charged Omni-Bolts from Tali that sent a large group of people being sent flying back.

Drack bellowed out a laugh. "Where can I get that?!"

He got his answer in the form of a bottle getting cracked over his head. In response, he headbutted the human as thanks for giving incentive.

"Oh boy." Ashley said, instincts kicking in as she grabbed a fist and judo flipped a Batarian down to the ground.

Xion grabbed a chair and promptly whacked a Turian high into the air with Roxas jumping up and punching him across the bar.

Drack saw that and laughed even louder.

"I have no idea who you guys are but I love you all already."

-Scene Cut-

"Ok… just how?"

"Look, it wasn't our fault." Garrus said placatingly. "Some things just blew out of proportion and well it ended with the bar being trashed."

The bland expression presently worn by Jane Shepard was a mixture of dry astonishment.

She merely left their sight for like half hour and suddenly she got a notice of a massive brawl happening at the nearby bar.

Next thing she knew, a C-sec officer nearby informed them of seeing a familiar Turian detective that was right in the middle of the fight.

So she had to rush back with Axel and Kaidan in tow to the sight of a thoroughly messed up bar.

Unconscious bodies were strewn about everywhere over tables, over chairs, on the bar, in the booths, through the windows.

There was even a body dangling from the ceiling with a person's head wedged up there.

"Any reason why this started?" Kaidan asked, looking at the damage.

"We were merely minding our own business…" Garrus began.

"Most of the time that opening line doesn't work." Axel cut in.

"Shush." Tali threw a finger up to her mouth.

"And these punks just strolled right up to us and said we hurt their friends-" Vakarian went on.

"Some which we guess were from past missions we went through." Liara added.

"And there was quite a lot, mind you." Ash said.

"And they wanted payback for them all." Xion finished.

"And that's it." Shepard crossed her arms in slight disbelief. "Nothing else other than that?"

"Apparently they took an exception to us dissuading from fighting."

"Soon enough… our usual song and dance number started playing."

Jane soon pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled a tired sigh.

"I would've expected this from Wrex and Axel-"

"Hey!"

"-but from you guys…"

"We were just… defending ourselves." Roxas said innocently.

"Throwing someone through a window is self-defense?" Shepard asked, brow arched upwards.

"The guy was charging at us and I… reacted."

Kaidan looked up at the poor Batarian hanging out from the window. The only thing keeping him there was his clothes being snagged at the broken opening. "That's one hell of a reaction."

"And one hell of a throw." Drack laughed aloud.

Axel all the while shook his head in self disappointment.

"Their first bar fight… and I missed it."

"That's what you're upset about?" Liara asked in bewilderment.

"I'm like their older brother, Liara." Axel stated, thumping his chest. "These two are like lost zombies without my guidance."

"Hey!"

"And Liara, you sent someone through a wall with your biotics." Ashley reminded the Asari scientist.

"I was wholly justified." Liara spoke in a dignified manner.

"Drama queen."

"One of them did try to stab me in the face. I'd say that's an adequate amount of drama there."

"And who's this?" Shepard finally turned to the Krogan standing with them. "New friend?"

"Pretty sure our old buddy would be mighty upset we replaced him so soon already." Axel quipped.

"Name's Drack." Said the Krogan. "You've got quite the group of friends here, humans."

"Oh yeah." Kaidan dryly said, looking back to the bar. "We know."

"Oh PUH-leeze Kaidan, you'd be just as bad as us if you were here." Ashley argued with him, rolling her eyes.

Drack only laughed once more at the comments being thrown around at the group.

"I have to admit, you lot are alright in my book." Spoke Drack. "Never would've thought of having that kind of bar fight outside of Omega."

"Sounds like fun." Said Ash.

"Can be when you get the right dance partner." Drack admitted. "But still, this was fun. It was… nice to meet you guys."

"So where are you gonna go now then?" Xion asked with Nakmor humming in thought.

"Don't really know. Gotta meet up with my Ru'shan here on the Citadel." Drack stated. "From there… well… I dunno."

No. VIII took a moment to look over the grizzled Krogan and nodded to himself after a second.

"Maybe you can head to Tuchanka then." Axel suggested.

Drack's demeanor immediately shifted into that of disgust.

"Why the fuck would I ever wanna go back to that shithole?"

Well now, that was certainly a vitriolic, spiteful question if ever there was one.

Though the team was unbothered by it for the most part.

"Our buddy Wrex can use the support." Kaidan stated, making the bone armored Krogan pause.

"Wrex…" Drack said to himself. "You mentioned that name. Urdnot Wrex, yes?"

"That's the one." Shepard confirmed. "Why? Is there another Krogan named Wrex out there?"

"You know him? Red head crest with bunch of scars on his ugly mug?" Kaidan asked curiously with the Krogan nodding slowly.

"Whose father -Jarrod- broke a big rule on sacred, neutral grounds." Drack recounted as if reading from a textbook. "The same Krogan who was the last one known to have single handedly killed a Thresher Maw on his own when he took the Rite back on Tuchanka."

"He's a good friend of ours." Ashley stated.

"Is he now?" Drack looked at them. "Hell of a strange group of friends he's got. Been hearing a lot about you all. You're that human Spectre crew."

"Spectre." Jane raised her hand. "Present."

"Where's your Krogan buddy then?" Drack asked suspiciously.

"Rounding up the clans and uniting them with his mighty hammer." Garrus said emphatically.

Drack did a double take upon hearing that. "What now?"

"Wrex has returned to Tuchanka with plans to unify the Krogan under one banner again." Liara said. "And the hammer… it's very literal. He has one."

"And it is powerful." Tali added.

"So why's he going about doing this then?" Drack asked disparagingly.

"Let's just say that Wrex wants to believe that there can be a future for the Krogan." Liara said with a solemn smile.

"He went back to Tuchanka with a goal in mind." Jane stated.

"Did he now?" Drack eyed them all intensely. "And what is he to you really?"

"I think you heard the hot headed Operations Chief." Garrus spoke up. "He's a friend. A damn good one at that. Helped us bring down Saren and has helped save the Citadel with us, twice."

The aged Krogan eyed them all intently, taking a moment to gaze at each one of them individually before he let out a grumbling sigh.

"Vaul's almighty quads, I'm getting too old for this." Drack regarded them once more. "Alright, I'll go back to Tuchanka. See if what you're all saying is true. Been a long time since the Krogan held any semblance of… unity."

"Speaking from experience?" Kaidan inquisitively commented.

Drack only huffed. "1400 years of it."

The group reeled back slightly upon hearing that age.

"By the Goddess." Liara muttered. "1400? Then… that means."

"Yeah." Drack confirmed. "I was there when it all went downhill for my people."

Before they could even make any further comments, Drack turned and began to walk away.

"But hearing this from a bunch of humans, a Turian, Quarian and Asari… well… these old bones could use some more good news in his life."

And with that, Nakmor Drack walked off, leaving the Normandy crew.

Axel promptly snorted, hands on his hips and shaking his head.

"We're only gonna attract the crazy and weird ones from now on, aren't we?"

"We're not… all that strange… are we?" Liara asked hesitantly with a majority of the crew only giving out flat looks.

"Know any other crew that's done the crazy shit we've done, Li?" Ash inquired rhetorically.

Liara dipped her head down for a few seconds when she felt someone patting her shoulder.

"Cheer up Liara." Kaidan said kindly. "Besides, least none of us are boring. Gonna have a lot of crazy stories to tell when we all retire."

"Give or take a few decades." Garrus muttered, the group beginning to walk and chatter together.

"Now don't say that." Ash said. "Least with Roxas, Xion and Liara here. They've got the decades and Li's got the centuries."

"I'm still pretty young." Tali said in an affronted manner.

"Aren't you technically an adult now that you're basically done with your pilgrimage?" Shepard asked.

"Youthful adult, I'll have you know."

"So a kid then." Axel quipped.

"Aren't we technically younger than kids?" Roxas asked with Xion shrugging.

"I guess." No. XIV said offhandedly. "We have only existed for a few months now."

"Keelah, we are weird."

"Could be worse." Axel said. "Could be boring."

"I think I wouldn't mind that every now and then." Liara said wistfully.

"And miss out on all the crazy stuff we get to do?" Shepard jokes, slightly leaning on her Asari friend. "Come on, you know you love it."

"Love is a strong word, Commander." Garrus countered. "I'd say tolerate is more like it with a series of highs and lows."

-Scene Cut-

"Wow, this place is amazing." Xion said in awe, looking up at the fish tank that was built into the ceiling. "Look at all the fish they have here."

"It looks like sea life from every known species' homeworlds." Liara noted with intrigue.

"Explains the segmentation." Kaidan pointed out.

"So which one is which?" Roxas asked, curious as to the sea life present.

The group looked around for a moment at the multiple fish tanks when-

"Hey guys."

They turned to see none other than Joker hobbling towards them.

"Roxas, you are the man." the pilot of the Normandy proclaimed straight away. "Who knew you had such high connections to a Turian general? Great hook up we got here."

"Yah, yah!"

The group blinked upon seeing Stitch pop up from behind Joker's shoulder.

"Uh… how'd you get Stitch in?" Jane asked in bemusement.

"He's my personal pet assistant." Joker said mischievously, Stitch puffing his chest out proudly. "Since I got a crap ton of disability benefits from the Alliance, might as well use some of them."

"Right~" Shepard said dryly. "Well, since you're here, table should be ready for us."

Soon enough, one of the ushers of the restaurant guided the large group to their reserved table which was a large booth with a curved chair.

The team slided into their seats and a waiter was already by their table.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." Said a male human with a French accent. "I am Monsieur Charles and shall be your waiter for this evening. What can I start you all with tonight?"

-Two Hours Later-

"Oh man." Axel leaned his head back, facing up at the ceiling with his hands on his stomach. "Yeah… that was a good meal."

"Tell me about it." Kaidan remarked, leaning against Garrus who was also supporting a slightly drowsy Xion.

"This was the real deal." Ash stated happily. "Feels like Thanksgiving all over again."

"What's that?" Tali asked, body practically draped over a thoroughly stuffed and satisfied Roxas.

"Human holiday." Jane answered, supporting a content Liara who was close to falling asleep. "It's where we stuff ourselves to the point of hitting a food coma."

"That seems appropriate right about now." Garrus said with a content sigh. "Never realized that eating so much would get you in this state."

"You need the right stuff." Joker said, a lazy smile in place. Next to him on the table was the Normandy's "pet" who was resting on his back, sprawled comfortably and tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as he snored aloud.

"So that's next on our list for us non-humans." Tali said slowly, letting out a large yawn.

"Do you guys have any holidays involving eating a lot?" Roxas asked, yawning himself now.

"Probably." Garrus shrugged. "But I figure the Krogan have something like that."

"Aw man." Ash groaned. "Just saying that makes me miss Wrex."

"Think we should have invited Drack then to fill in the Krogan part of our team?" Kaidan jokingly asked.

"I'm confident he would feel thoroughly betrayed by such a gesture." Liara pointed out, the team laughing at the comment. "Next time we see him. When we're all together again."

There were grunts and moans of agreement as they seldom tried to move from their seats.

"Who's up for a skycar?"

"I'd rather try to walk off most of this food."

Axel hummed aloud to himself, bobbing his head from side to side until he concentrated his fiery powers… and quite literally burnt away the food he had eaten.

"Phew." Axel said, now full of vigor. "All done."

The rest of the group stared slack jawed with envy.

"Th-that's-" Kaidan stammered.

"AH Bullshit!" Ash nearly yelled. "That's not even fair!"

"I didn't even know you could do that." Jane murmured, bug eyed.

"How else do you think I'm able to eat so much ice cream?" Axel rhetorically asked, soon wiping his forehead from some sweat dripping down.

Tali tilted her head towards Roxas and Xion. "Can you two do something like that?"

They both shook their heads.

"I… don't think so." Roxas muttered, face scrunching up in concentration.

Xion copied this and both emanated light off their bodies.

The team watched the two as they both held focused expressions and remained that way for a few minutes until both began looking far more refreshed then the rest.

"Hey, it works." Xion said happily, Roxas smiling as well yet the rest of the team wasn't so ecstatic.

"...You three suck." Garrus deadpanned.

"You guys are helping us get back to the ship." Ash stated, shoving Roxas' face lightly.

"What for?" Xion said in confusion.

"Because of what you did." Shepard said, lightly shoving Axel's face. "Now get to it."

"Who's paying the bill?" Kaidan abruptly asked and the team turned towards the holo bill floating within the center of the table.

Liara reached forward to take a look at it and choked on the air she was breathing.

"Geez, is it that bad?" Ash asked, managing to take a look at the receipt and her jaw dropped. "What the hell kind of pricing is this?!"

The rest of the team got around to seeing the bill and they too were stunned by the price.

"How are we supposed to pay for all that?" Joker asked in disbelief.

"Think we can get some Spectre discount?" Axel asked, looking at Shepard who shrugged.

"Pretty sure Spectre status doesn't cover food discounts." Shepard said, grimacing still at the price they had for the bar.

"We overate." Garrus commented with the team nodding in agreement.

"It was just sooo good." Joker said shamelessly.

"So how're we gonna pay for all this?" Roxas asked.

The team paused in deep thought for a few moments.

When Xion gasped and quickly reached into her coat and pulled out her Munny pouch.

"The spoils of war." No. XIV proclaimed happily and turned her pouch upside down.

A few credit chits fell out with Xion frowning momentarily before giving it another good shake.

Most wondered if the small amount of credits dropped onto the table would suffice. But given the credit chits can hold quite an amount, each of them could hold a vast amount or be rather small in significance.

Xion promptly smacked her pouch and a downpour of munny that changed into credit chits soon formed into a small mountain before the young girl.

"...We should probably take care of this before we make a scene."

-Scene Cut-

Back aboard the Normandy, Tali was triple checking her pilgrimage gift.

Everything has been assembled, sanitized and properly packaged for transport back to the Flotilla.

So much she had gathered was leading up to this.

"So… this is it then." Xion said softly, watching as Tali finished the last of her checkups for her departure.

"You really can't stick around any longer, Tali?" Ash asked quietly as the Quarian placed a hand over one of the many 'gifts' she was to bring back to her people.

"I wish I could stay longer." Tali said, voice barely above a whisper. "But they're already waiting for me. I've been away for too long and… I've done my duty for my people."

The Operations Chief sighed and walked up to Tali and pulled her in for a tight hug.

"It's been fun, Tali." Williams whispered in her ear, Tali hugging her back with all her might.

"Don't say goodbye." Tali said. "We'll see each other again, right?"

"Of course." Ash pulled away with a teary smile in place.

As soon as she stepped back did Tali get tackled with the smaller form of Xion who practically cried into the Quarians suit.

"Waaaa~" Xion cried comically. "I don't want you to gooooo."

Tali couldn't but giggle at her friend with two pouring streams of water coming out from her eyes.

"Physics just doesn't matter anymore." Ash quipped, watching two small puddles forming on either side of them both. "Or reality or… any semblance of normalcy."

Eventually, Xion pulled herself away with large watery eyes and pouting lower lip directed at the Quarian who squirmed at the sight and had to look away lest she be pulled in and decided to stay on the Normandy.

"We'll see you when we get to your fleet to drop you off." Ash said, wrapping an arm around Xion.

"Yeah, I'll see you later." Tali assured, watching them both leave.

She resumed making sure everything was in order until a few minutes later did Commander Shepard arrive.

"Shepard." Tali greeted cheerfully.

"Hey Tali." Jane said with a small smile, thumbing to her back. "Just saw Ash and Xion on their way out from here. Did you see the water works?"

Tali simply gestured to her thoroughly soaked suit. The Spectre snorted upon seeing this.

"Everything still in working order?" Shepard jokingly asked.

Tali patted herself down and gave a nod. "No suit breaches detected."

Shepard laughed, walking over to everything Tali had gathered.

"Is this everything?" Jane asked in a low voice.

"Yup." Tali nodded. "Everything is set and ready."

Shepard let out a small sigh, looking over to the best engineer she had ever met who stood silently beside her with her head hung low.

"You know you guys are making this difficult." Tali quietly said.

"Oh?" Jane had a small smirk form. "How so?"

"You guys just keep coming down here one or two at a time to say goodbye, take a few minutes to be with me and just talk…" Tali said reminiscently. "Keelah, I even got a notification from Wrex wishing me luck on my way home. The rest of the team tipped him off about me leaving."

Shepard exhaled loudly and crossed her arms.

"Well it ain't exactly easy saying goodbye to a friend after everything we've gone through together." Shepard stated knowingly. "What we've all done and what we've seen. We all did that together. Can't exactly have those types of experiences with other people."

"No we cannot."

"So… who else is left?"

"Liara already stopped by and Kaidan was before Ash and Xion. Wrex sent his message and Stitch came in and hugged my head. It's you now and only Garrus, Axel and Roxas left." Tali recounted.

"Really?" Jane said in surprise. "Would have figured Roxas would have been the first person to say his goodbyes."

"He probably would have stuck by my side the whole time." Tali whispered in a bit of a dreamy voice.

"Oh would he now?" Jane asked, a sly look appearing on her face and moving to lightly nudge her Quarian friend. "You would have liked that wouldn't you?"

One didn't need to be a genius to pick up on the flustered state of the Quarian who began stuttering a moment later.

Jane quickly capitalized on her friend's state of mind.

"Nice sandy blond hair, boyish charm, beaming smile, blue eyes that you can get lost in." Jane listed off, her grin widening at the sight of steam coming out from beneath Tali's hood.

"Have gotten lost in." Tali blurted out quietly, letting out a small 'eep' upon realizing her "blunder".

Shepard guffawed whilst Tali's mask fogged up entirely with a small cloud forming from all the steam coming out from her hood.

She quickly stammered out a weak attempt at a denial of this matter.

"E-Even if he were older, he wouldn't be my type."

Jane arched her brow up, deciding to play along with Tali's little denial game here. "And what would be your type?"

"E-Erm… h-he would have to be… daring." Tali quickly rattled off. "Brave and willing to jump into anything to save the people he cares for."

"And have blue eyes that are like an ocean and a laugh that you just love to listen to." Shepard said, pretending to be a swooning girl and dramatically leaned herself upon Tali. "And ice cream that you can eat and-"

"Ok Shepard, Keelah."

Jane's grin threatened to split her face, placing a comforting arm around the Quarian that she, like the rest of the team, had come to view as her new family.

"So~ what's our little Quarian gonna do when she sees our crazy blond that turned our galaxy upside down?"

Tali wrung her hands together nervously, trying to think of an answer.

"I… I don't want to say goodbye." Tali admitted softly.

"Well then don't." Shepard said as if it were the most obvious thing.

"You know what I mean." Tali said frustratedly, more at herself than at the Spectre who rubbed her back soothingly.

"Look…" Shepard sighed. "I hate that this is happening as much as you do. This team… it's become more than that. More than I ever expected. Being with you all-"

"It's been the best." Tali finished for her. "Even with everything we fought along the way."

"Yeah and I wish we could keep going together as a team but… we all have our own responsibilities to do." Shepard said. "So if you're going to say goodbye to someone you care for the way you do for Roxas, you need to make it something to remember until you see him again."

Tali didn't respond at first as the two simply stood there for a few minutes until Jane stepped back and gazed warmly at Tali.

"It's been an honor having you aboard and among the team, Tali'Zorah."

"The honor has been all mine, Commander." Tali said earnestly. "Thanks for having me."

"Always a place for you on the ship." Shepard promised. "Always."

Rather than staying behind, Tali opted to go with Shepard as she was more or less done with gathering everything she needed for her trip home and make the final round across the ship.

Walking through the Normandy, Tali slowly made her "goodbyes" with members of the crew. One by one, they said their farewells and gave their well wishes.

She ran into Garrus and Axel, who apparently had been "arguing" on the proper way they both should say goodbye and had been stuck in the cargo bay since as they were still debating. Tali only laughed them off and gave them both a farewell hug which they reciprocated and she walked off to continue her final goodbyes to the crew.

Even Joker gave a decent one to her, which gave her a good chuckle.

Of course, she wanted to find the one person she sought to see one last time for who knows how long.

"Hey, Tali."

-Insert Mass Effect: Love Theme-

Turning around, she saw the Nobody of her affections.

"Have you seen everyone else yet?"

Tali merely nodded.

"Ah dang it." Roxas pouted. "Why did I end up being last?"

She could perhaps think of a number of reasons.

But it didn't matter now.

"Yes you are last." Tali said, hands on her hips and pretending to convey annoyance. "And for that, you'll have to pay."

"What do I gotta do?" Roxas asked straight away, not picking up on the joking tone she had.

He simply allowed her to gently grab his hands and pulled him to follow after her.

After several minutes, Tali pulled Roxas into the engine room. The area being completely empty of all personnel other than the duo that stood before the terminal the Quarian had been stationed at.

The Quarian felt her heart hammering in her chest, the thumping sound ringing in her ears as she still held both of Roxas' hands in her own.

She only tightened her grasp on them as she held them up to her chest.

"R-Roxas." Tali stammered out. "You've been a great friend to me since I first met you. Because of you saving my life when we first met on the Citadel, I don't think I would have been able to be where I am in my life right now."

Her glowing eyes behind her helmet locked onto his blue ones and she internally squealed at the sight of them.

'Dammit Shepard!' Tali internally screamed. 'Why'd you have to go and point them out?! Now they're all I can look at.'

"I… I owe you more than anyone else really." She softly admitted. "Thank you."

Roxas blinked and soon smiled back at her.

"Tali… You have been a great friend, the first I've made since coming to this galaxy and I've enjoyed our time together since then. I'll admit I'll be missing you, but we'll meet each other again one day."

"I agree."

Tali hesitated momentarily but decided that she can probably use one of the potions or other healing items she's taking with her to help with whatever cold she might get. Reaching up to her helmet, ignoring the slightly alarmed look on Roxas' face, she removed her face plate and gazed down at him with No. XIII being able to see her smiling face.

In all the few times Roxas had seen Tali's face, he had always noted how pretty she had been but in this instance, she looked completely beautiful.

With a shaky sigh, Tali reached out to place her hands on both sides of Roxas' head, which garnered a slightly confused face that nearly got her giggling.

"Tali?"

She didn't say anything, only pulling him close to her.

Slowly drawing their faces closer, her eyes bore into his.

He was enraptured by her eyes, he nearly missed the hushed whisper escaping her lips.

When the Nobody was about to ask what she said for confirmation, he was met with something unexpected.

*Chu*

Roxas freezed up on the spot, eyes wide in shock.

Tali, eyes closed, gently moved to grasp his hands and place them around her waist and lower back as she pressed herself fully against him.

At first, he didn't respond until slowly, he felt some sort of instinct take over and began moving his lips against hers. Slowly massaging them as time went on as he soon tightened his hold around her.

He was met with a muffle squeal as she began kissing him far more forcefully.

Roxas jolted slightly but responded in kind and after a few seconds, a soft moan came from Tali.

This went on a for a few more seconds when-

*Ba-Dump*

Roxas' eyes snapped open and he couldn't help but pull away and stared at her in disbelief.

"Roxas?"

He had a hand over his chest and was breathing heavily. "I-I-I… I felt something."

A bewildered look graced her features upon hearing this.

"You… felt something?"

Roxas looked down at his chest. "I know I did. It… it felt… like I had a heart."

Curious, he brought his hand over his heart and focused.

*Ba-Dump*

"There!" Roxas said excitedly. "I felt it again just now. I know it's a heartbeat."

Bringing her hand to his chest, he saw her blush a bit before she too felt the odd sensation from his chest.

*BA-DUMP BA-DUMP*

Blinking in surprise, she could feel the slow, strong beating.

Roxas looked up at her, eyes alight with her being unable to contain her giggle at seeing him in such a state.

"I guess you were wrong in not having a heart."

Tali's comment merely brought a smile to his face.

Since she had already kissed him, any sort of reservation was gone by this point.

"We'll have to keep it going, don't we?" She said in a soft, teasing tone.

Roxas looked at her quizzically before she pulled him in for another kiss, this one before far more passionate than the last.

This time, she racked the fingers of one hand through his blonde locks while the other held onto his back. And the Keybearer followed suit by wrapping one arm around her to entrap them together while his other hand cupped her face. This allowed them to keep their connection together as their kisses continued on and on before they eventually deepened with everything in their surroundings seemingly faded away.

Roxas' heartbeat started to accelerate, causing his face to redden when Tali pushed her tongue into his mouth, trying to probe it as much as she could. For some reason, Roxas couldn't just let that happen and promptly pushed back with his own tongue, entering her mouth instead. In his own opinion, he found she tasted quite nice.

Perhaps it was due to the amount of sea-salt ice cream she'd consumed. On top of that, there was something else among that flavor which he started to enjoy.

Tali practically purred in utter delight as her purple cheeks darkened. She ended up nibbling on his tongue for a quick, accidental instance with her slight sharp teeth. Even if there was a slight bit of discomfort, causing Roxas to break away so they can have air once more, he seemed to dive back in so they may resume their pleasurable makeout session.

Unfortunately, things have to come to an end at some point.

Yet it would be a memory neither of them would forget.

The Normandy crew had all gathered at the docking area of the ship and stood together with Tali being in front of them all.

She was all set and ready and they were approaching the Flotilla.

Joker couldn't help but comment on how enormous of a fleet it was, the migrant fleet being the absolute largest in the galaxy.

As they stood there and waited for Joker to get closer to the fleet, they couldn't help but notice the dazed and slightly disheveled looking blond Nobody who had a faraway look in his eyes.

The more in the know(all of them save Xion and Liara) were well aware of what might have possibly happened to No. XIII for him to be in such a state.

But right now wasn't the time for that.

Right now, it was the crew saying goodbye to yet another one of their friends who wanted to stay just as much as they wanted her to.

The moment was bittersweet to say the least.

They were happy for her, being able to bring back so much that will undoubtedly help her people now and forever.

But of course, they hated to see her go.

They wanted her to stay. The team all wanted to stay together.

So much had been done together in such a short amount of time and they had their lives irrecoverably changed forever.

To not be together anymore…

All that was left for them was a group hug that surrounded Tali who held back as much as she could before the waterworks began to flow.

Eventually, the Normandy docked with one of the Flotilla's life ships and the team watched as Tali stepped out from their own ship onto the other.

They all waved and said their final goodbyes with Tali doing the same until they cut off with the doors closing off from each other.

Silence permeated the area for a number of seconds until Shepard let out a disgruntled sigh.

"Come on Joker." The Spectre spoke softly. "Get us outta here."

Joker's tone was more subdued than his usual wise-cracking self. "You got it Commander."

-Scene Cut-

Stepping back aboard the Rayya after so long felt… surreal for the Quarian.

And somehow so alien.

It was bizarre to her.

She would have never felt that coming home would be so bizarre and strange and again, alien.

Instead of seeing the multi species crew that she has grown to calling her close friends and seeing their faces on the daily, she would now return to the old norm of faceplates.

Carrying the large crate of everything she had gathered on her pilgrimage via a rolling dolley, Tali saw a multitude of Quarians coming to greet her.

One of which was-

"Auntie Raan!" Tali joyfully said as she let go of the handle of her dolley and ran over to embrace the older Quarian who returned the hug.

"Oh Tali." Admiral Shala'Raan Vas Tonbay said in equal happiness as she held her 'niece' tightly. "It is so good to see once more. We have all been hearing so much in the galaxy and the vids-"

"You don't know the half of it, Auntie Raan." Tali said wistfully, a beaming smile under her helmet.

The Quarian admiral looked past Tali to spot the large dolley and crates upon it that Tali had brought with her and hummed aloud.

"Clearly." Raan commented. "I see your Pilgrimage has been a successful one."

"That and more." Tali assured. "If it wasn't for Roxas, Shepard and…"

In an instant, the young Quarian fell short as she glanced back to everything she had brought with her aboard the ship from her adventures on the Normandy.

She felt her heart clench up immediately upon realizing that… she probably won't see her friends in some time. A long time really.

She knew that they would communicate with her as frequently as they were able to and had full belief that they would but not seeing them in person anymore…

Tali was finding the realization harder to swallow than she had anticipated.

Shaking her head, she turned back to Raan who had patiently stood there, an understanding gleam from the admiral's eyes being visible behind the helmet.

She placed a hand on Tali's back and moved it up and down as a sign of comfort which the younger Quarian graciously accepted.

"Come, my dear." Raan said softly. "They are all waiting for you."

"Everyone is here then?" Tali asked with Raan nodding.

"For you to call for such a meeting using our most sacred phrasing, it must be something important." Raan remarked.

"That and more, Auntie Raan." Tali assured, now feeling a sense of anxious giddiness rise up from within. "Everything I have brought back will change the Quarian fleet and our people forever."

The other Quarians who were present openly murmured in intrigue and anticipation. The way Tali had spoken with such conviction piqued their interest and full attention.

"Well then, let us not keep them waiting." Raan said, gesturing for Tali to follow after her.

Tali went back to her dolley and grabbed its handle, pulling it deeper into the ship until they arrived at the assembly area of the conclave.

Practically every single Admiral was present, either in person or listening in.

Then again, Tali was well aware that nearly the entire Quarian fleet was all but present for lack of a better word since she had called for such a serious meeting.

When she used the words of their ancestors to indicate the momentous importance of her return, she couldn't help but gulp upon realizing how much talking she was about to do.

The room setup was square-like with seated rows all facing two elevated positions.

On said positions were five Quarians on the lower platform and three on the top and all had their attention directed at Tali.

Among them stood her father and she gulped to herself.

"Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya." The Center Quarian spoke up, silencing all the chatter as everyone looked at her now. "We welcome you home from your pilgrimage and blessed are the ancestors that you have returned in good health."

"It wasn't easy." Tali couldn't help but blurt out.

A male Admiral that Tali recognized laughed aloud at this small outburst. This was Admiral Zaal'Koris Vas Qwib Qwib.

"Hard not to see why." The Admiral spoke good naturedly. "We've seen some of the vids that have relayed what has been transpiring in the galaxy the last few months. Imagine our surprise when we caught sight of the daughter of Rael'Zorah right in the middle of it all."

Tali shifted about, appearing bashful at the mention of this when she looked to her father and was surprised to see a posture that radiated… approval.

"So then, Tali'Zorah." A female Quarian Admiral spoke up. "What is it that you wished to present that demanded the entire attention of the Flotilla?"

Tali let out a deep breath to steady her nerves before going over to the crates that she had brought in with her.

She pulled out a small display stand that she propped up and then pulled out a rectangular item that had a cloth over it.

Clearing her throat, Tali turned to face the assembled Quarians.

"Well, I'm glad you all came here today because I have a lot to show you." Tali said, placing the rectangular object on the stand and grasping the cloth covering it. "Starting with this."

Pulling the cloth back, she revealed the hidden object to be the painting that had been found by her friends and given to her to bring back to the Flotilla.

While a number of the Admiralty looked on inquisitively as to what they were looking at, several of the more cultured and well versed in Quarians artworks shot up from their seats in complete and utter astonishment.

"Keelah Se'lai!" A male Quarian exclaimed. "Is that what I think it is?!"

"How did she get that?" Asked another.

"Wait, what is that?"

"This is a painting done of the homeworld from five hundred years ago" Tali revealed, eliciting gasps from all in attendance. "Voto'Fama painted this and when the Quarians had joined the galactic community, this painting must have either been sold off or stolen. Regardless, my close friends found this during my pilgrimage and gave it to me to bring home."

"Keelah Tali." Her Auntie Raan, who stood beside her, murmured in amazement.

The audience practically jumped out of all their seats with most of them practically cheering Tali for bringing back something so priceless from the homeworld.

"But that's just one small gift." Tali's voice cut through the chatter, silencing all present as she went back to the dolly cart with everything she had brought back.

She reached in and pulled out a hexagonal cloth of some kind that crackled with energy.

"This… is technology I have brought back from another galaxy."

To say that stunned the admiralty and all the Quarians listening into silence would be an understatement. It was practically deafening for a few moments until there was an explosion of sound from everyone.

The admiralty had to collectively shout together to reign in the crowd and try to retain order as they allowed for Tali to speak.

And thus, the young Quarian who is now considered an adult by this point began regaling her people with the adventure of a lifetime.

She spoke of her chance meeting with a human named Roxas, meeting the crew of the Normandy, befriending the entire crew and joining them on their hunt to take out the rogue Spectre Saren.

From there, Tali began showing personal recorded vids of her many encounters with the creatures known as the Heartless, their many battles with the Geth and their adventures across the galaxy.

Then came the point that completely enraptured the audience.

Her accidental travels through another galaxy that was called the Etherium where the means in which space travel was achieved were literal sailboats where one can breathe in the vacuum of space!

On top of that, she had joined an expedition to find a planet literally made of treasure and even had some of the gold to prove it.

And if that wasn't crazy enough for the Quarians to hear, they were all gob smacked upon learning that Tali had survived a black hole by flying straight into it and using its energy to escape its gravitational pull.

And that was just the start as she went on to speak of practically everything she had seen and everything she had learned and gathered.

The Gummi Technology.

The Heartless and the Nobodies.

Other means of intergalactic travel.

Visiting yet another galaxy with the Normandy crew.

Learning that magic was real!

Showing off her enhanced Omni-tool that can fire off Omni-bolts, many of the Quarians openly espousing their want for such an ability.

The various notes, blueprints and data logs of Etherium and Barsoomian technologies.

Elaborating on the intense confrontation between her and her friends and the powerful beings such as Lexaeus and Sephiroth.

All this made her working Geth parts and data that she brought back seemingly inadequate in the grand scheme of things.

The entire Flotilla by this point had listened in with the fleet buzzing with conversation.

Never before had a Quarian brought back so much to the Flotilla that would undoubtedly, fundamentally change the very foundation of the fleet.

By the end of it all, Tali was practically surrounded by the admiralty board that poured on heaps of praises and gratitude with her feeling overwhelmed by all this.

Every single Quarian present came up to her directly and thanked her profusely in their own over-excited way.

She was bashful in all this, trying to disregard the praise and only stated that she had done this for her people but that didn't stop the giddy feeling raging inside her.

Eventually, she had at long last managed to get some semblance of peace as she stood alone within a corridor catching her breath.

"Keelah." Tali whispered to herself, rubbing her chest as she tried to calm her beating heart.

'That was far more exciting than I expected.' Tali internally mused.

"Tali."

The girl turned her head to see Auntie Raan approaching her with her eyes glowing with pride.

"My sweet child." The older Quarian came up to her and hugged her tightly. "You have done so much for our people in such a short amount of time. Your name will be passed down for generations now."

"It wasn't that much." Tali attempted to play off the compliment with a level of modesty that got her Auntie laughing.

"Ever the kind soul." Raan said with an amused shake of her head. "Tali, you-"

"Tali."

Both turned to see Rael'Zorah standing before them both with his eyes firmly on his daughters.

He walked straight up to her and before she was able to utter a single word, Rael placed both his hands on her shoulders.

"Words cannot begin to describe how proud of you I am right now, Tali." Rael spoke with a warm tone that Tali seldom ever heard. "You have done more for this fleet than any Admiral serving at this very moment and have secured a long lasting future for our people. As an Admiral I can say you have done well. As a father… there aren't enough words for this instance."

Tali was completely floored and even more so when her father pulled her into a hug that she barely reciprocated.

It was only for a few seconds but to her it felt like an eternity until her father pulled back with his hands still on her shoulders.

"You've been very busy, my daughter." Rael said. "I think it's time you took a long rest. You've earned that and more."

Rael patted her arms with pride before turning to leave the shell shocked Quarian and her amused Auntie standing by her side.

Seeing how her 'niece' was reacting, Raan knew of only one way of knocking her out of her stupor.

"So… mind telling me of this Roxas boy you spoke so highly of?"

Tali's daze instantly broke as her head snapped to Raan's direction, watching as a mischievous gleam appeared in the eyes of the older Quarian.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Raan teased.

"Auntie Raan!" Tali squeaked embarrassingly, watching as her Aunt laughed at her plight.

She immediately thought of the private moment she had shared with Roxas with her entire body beginning to heat up, steam coming out from beneath her hood.

Raan only laughed harder at the sight of her niece who was stammering repeatedly as she tried to play off the clear infatuation she had with the human.

-Scene Cut-

Once more, the ship felt emptier.

Another placement became vacant, leaving a void that'll be hard to properly fill in.

Looking at the station over in engineering, Roxas could still picture his friend there.

The "expressions" he saw from both her posture and how her eyes lit up behind her helmet's faceplate.

He could even… feel her.

A vacant look took hold in his blue eyes of that special moment. Bringing his fingers to his mouth, Roxas could still remember how… her lips felt upon his. Even recalling how her sweet lips tasted when their kisses escalated.

While a part of him questioned such an action, the rest of him thought of something else…

Kissing… was just… amazing!

And he could still hear her voice -both filtered and unfiltered- as it echoed in his ears.

Especially those three words before his mind retreated back to their series of kisses. Something which he almost didn't hear due to the Mass Effect core's thumping.

'I love you.'

Love…

He had heard that word before so many times ever since coming to the Citadel.

In passing or in entertainment, advertising and so on, love was a common word he had heard being thrown around.

But what in the galaxy did it mean?

He looked up the definition on his Omni-tool and all he got was a plethora of definitions that he couldn't make heads or tails of. But with "love", there were different meanings and interpretations pertaining to the subject.

Roxas had been reading through them all as they had either short definitions or extensive means of explaining them.

There was something called a storge love, a kind of love where others care for each other like a family would. And philia love is one pertaining to a sense of belonging and acceptance to a group. Even platonic love, being a special emotional and spiritual connection between some people who "love" and admire each other because of similar interests and views.

It made him question how he felt with his friends. From there, he questioned how he felt differently with Tali than the rest.

He thought back to how he reacted when she was badly hurt back on Virmire. How he felt infuriated that she was really hurt and greatly exposed to outside contaminants. But he also thought back to their personal times together, especially their visits to Rannoch.

Those small moments between the two of them where it was just them. Him and Tali and nobody else.

Thinking back on those brief moments together, Roxas recalled a sense of content and peace that he had only felt… Well, when it was him, Axel and Xion on the clock tower in Twilight Town.

But as he took the time to think it over, this was different.

This was… something he couldn't quite describe as of right now. He just didn't understand what it was and it was starting to drive him crazy.

He wanted to contact Tali, either with a message or a video-call. But he was told he should at least wait for a few days before doing so. Let her settle back with the rest of her people and adjust accordingly so there can at least be a good amount of topics to discuss.

Roxas had spoken with Axel earlier and had asked in a blunt manner as to what love was supposed to be.

Axel, who had been drinking something when that question had been asked, inadvertently began choking on it and coughed it out.

Bewildered by this response, Axel eventually managed to get out a few strained words from his raspy voice.

"When you're older."

That really didn't answer anything, much to Roxas' frustration.

Exiting engineering, Roxas made his way towards the elevator in the hangar bay. About to reach it, he turned to where Wrex resided near Ashley's workstation.

Like before, Roxas thought of the Krogan battlemaster.

Last he and the others heard from him, Wrex had indeed reclaimed his lands and titles. But the road of uniting the rest of his people had only gotten started in a rough manner.

Quite understandable, given Krogan culture.

Thinking on Wrex for the moment, he wondered whether or not his Krogan friend could describe this whole love thing.

He was seven hundred years old after all so it should account for something.

Then again…

Knowing Wrex's cavalier attitude, the answer he would get would probably be in the form of some sort of crass comment followed by a suggestion to do something directly with what was troubling him.

Roxas was normally a straightforward guy himself but even he felt he needed to tread carefully around this matter.

This was a whole new territory for him to explore and he'd rather tread cautiously then just bull rush into it. Otherwise, he feels like he'd screw things up royally. That much he felt confident in affirming for himself.

Maybe Shepard or Garrus can give him a few pointers or maybe even Ash, Liara or Kaidan. Perhaps Chakwas as well.

Joker was out of the question cause he was, well, Joker.

But for now, he had other things to attend to.

That matter being a meeting called by Shepard to discuss personal matters on what they were to do.

"So what happens now?" Kaidan asked, the group seated around the meeting room of the Normandy. "Two of our friends have left and right now, feels like we're at an impasse."

"Can't be that simple really." Garrus stated. "Pretty sure there's something to do. An evil warlord to overthrow, some pirates to chase out of Citadel space, Heartless that decide to pop up and be a pain in the ass. That sort of thing."

"Yeah… that may be but…"

"But~?" Ash egged on the LT-Commander who grumbled underneath his breath.

Kaidan relented after a few seconds of thought. "But I feel like… we're splitting apart too soon I guess."

"So it's more like you don't want us to split apart." Liara concluded with Kaidan nodding. "I don't blame you. I share the same sentiment. I… I want us to remain together. To see the galaxy together and take on whatever challenges and dangers are thrown our way."

"But Tali and Wrex are back home with their people." Ash said dejectedly. "And even if it wasn't long, Della went back to her own home galaxy."

"Which begs the question, again, what do we do now?" Alenko asked, with the team falling silent on this matter.

"Well…" Garrus spoke up first. "I was recently approached by a Council representative."

"Oh? About what?"

"You didn't tell them Garrus?" Voiced Roxas, earning curious looks from the others in the room.

"Tell us what?" Tali looked to the Turian who shifted about in his seat.

"What does Roxas know that we don't?" Xion inquired.

Garrus let out a small sigh. "Didn't come up yet."

"Garrus." Jane said slowly, making the Turian shake his head.

"I was approached by this representative and offered the chance to undergo training for Spectre candidacy."

This earned a number of surprised looks, which was quite justified.

"Congratulations, man. You earned it." Kaidan said approvingly.

"Thanks, Kaidan."

"Have you accepted it?" Asked Ashley.

"That's the thing, I've been thinking about the offer and haven't decided yet. And this actually isn't the first time I've had this offer." Garrus revealed, garnering more surprised looks from his friends.

"What now?" Ash blinked. "This isn't the first time?"

"So you could have been a Spectre before ever joining up with us." Axel remarked.

"But if this is your second time, what happened to the one you rejected?" Liara inquired. "Why even reject something like that?"

Garrus tilted his head down, crossing his fingers together.

"My father… he and I didn't always see eye to eye on a lot of things." Garrus began, tone sounding reminiscent. "He was a typical Turian. By the books, always make sure to complete a mission within every given parameter. But me? I bent and broke every rule I came across just because I wanted to get the job done at all costs. When I first came here after serving my time in the hierarchy, one of my old Captains actually put my name in for the Spectres. But my father was having none of that. Too dangerous, reckless and existing outside the law makes them easy to fall to corruption. So C-sec was the go to choice."

Others throughout the meeting room nodded in understanding.

"I can probably understand them not coming up to you since then, but why ask you again this time?" Asked the human Spectre.

"I can honestly wager it's because of my actions since coming aboard."

"Gotcha."

"So~" Ash leaned forward. "Are you gonna take the offer?"

"Technically I'm actually under training cause of me serving under Shepard this whole time."

"Does that count?" Kaidan curiously asked.

"I…" Shepard crossed her arms. "Huh, maybe."

"Did you even look over the handbook, let alone orientation?" Asked Ashley.

"There's a handbook?" Garrus and Axel asked at the same time.

"Orientation?" Tali blinked. "Wasn't Shepard just made a Spectre in front of a crowd? Does that count as orientation?"

"No, that doesn't." Said Williams. "Figured such a position would have to provide such things for necessities sake."

"Yeah, she was made the first ever Human Spectre." Kaidan added. "Felt it was more along the lines of pomp and circumstance. Momentous occasion and all that jazz."

"True, but she would've at least been briefed on the specific lines and boundaries she couldn't cross along with other rules and benefits which came with the job title." Liara pointed out.

"Don't Spectres have full autonomy?" Xion asked.

"Saren." Voiced the others throughout the room in sync.

"...Point taken."

"But still, they got more freedom than most." Kaidan said. "For God Sake, we detonated a nuclear bomb on a garden world."

"Alright." Jane spoke up in an amused tone. "We got Garrus undergoing Spectre training courtesy of Moi."

"Some training." Axel couldn't help but comment, holding out the palm of his hand to conjure a small flame. "Literal trial by fire."

Shepard continued on, ignoring the fiery Nobody's comment.

"Kaidan and Ashley are still assigned to my crew."

"I… I will stay with you as well Shepard." Liara stated. "Though I do wish to return to Mars and study that new structure after our time from Barsoom along with researching through the Prothean Archives with the Ilos data packet."

Shepard simply nodded at the Asari before she turned to the trio of Nobody's who were relatively silent for the most part now.

There was a conflicted feeling permeating the air now as none of them said a word on their plans.

They knew of Axel's intentions to return to their home galaxy to scout out what the Organization had been up to. But Roxas and Xion had yet to say anything on that matter.

"I… I think we should head back." Xion softly said, making all turn to her.

"Xion?" Shepard said in slight surprise. Of all the people to make this suggestion.

The Spectre was easily able to discern that the girl herself didn't wish to say this but did so regardless.

"We…" Xion faltered for a moment before putting on a more brave face. "We need to go back. The Organization is sending out Heartless to a bunch of Worlds. People are in danger and Sora and his friends can only do so much and be in so many places at once. They need help."

"Yeah, it's getting hectic out there." Roxas said with a glum look, turning to the team. "Remember the connection Sora and I share cause I'm his Nobody?" Seeing the others nod, he continued. "Well… things are starting to get a little stressful for him and the others."

"Do you think they'll need your help?" Shepard asked.

"Perhaps. But better safe than sorry."

Silence filled the room as the others more or less silently communicated with each other.

Finally, the Human Spectre let out a long breath while running a hand through her hair. "It's your guys' decision. We're not forcing you to stay or anything."

"Thanks Shepard."

Silence resumed once more as the crew didn't say a word for a while longer than last time.

This would be far more different.

Rather than one crewmate and friend walking away from the team, it would be three this time.

And unfortunately… they already knew what their choice was going to be, much as they wanted to deny it.

-Scene Cut-

A Dark Corridor erupted on a familiar twilight filled world as the three former Organization members exited out of it. Their passageway disbursed soon after as the trio of friends stood before the market area of Twilight Town.

The three of them stood there for a number of minutes, silently taking in the World they at one point frequented practically every day.

Without a word, they went over to a vendor, bought their favorite frozen treat and made their way to their old hangout spot before their lives changed entirely.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days: Twilight Town Clock Tower Theme-

And here they were once again.

Just the three of them sitting on the edge of the rooftop of the clock tower of Twilight Town.

It was so familiar yet so startlingly strange. The last time they were here, there were a lot more people up here with them occupying multiple spots here on the rooftop.

Now it was just the three of them.

No Tali. No Shepard. No Kaidan. No Ashley. No Wrex or Garrus, or even Stitch. They had actually convinced him to stick around with the Normandy team for a while on his own. Xion came close to bawling her eyes out, Axel pulling her way from suffocating the blue furball.

So, here they are now.

Just Roxas, Axel and Xion without any of the close friends they had made in their time away from their home galaxy.

"How long ago was it when we first sat here?" Axel asked.

"I think… a few days after Xion and I joined the Organization." Roxas murmured, taking a bite out of his ice cream.

"Yeah." Axel had a fond look in his eyes. "Man, feels like a lifetime ago by this point."

Xion looked towards the eternal sunset of Twilight Town, a wistful expression in place. "So much has happened since then."

"What do you think would be happening now if Roxas didn't leave?"

Roxas shrugged. "Probably would have just continued doing whatever the Organization wanted us to do."

Small nods were received soon after as the trio gazed onward to the perpetual sunset.

"Do you think…" Xion paused, an unsure look appearing. "Do you think we would have ever found out the truth about their plans?"

Neither of her friends responded for a few moments until Axel scoffed, flicking away his cleaned ice cream stick.

"Sometimes, it's better not to dwell on 'what if's' and 'what nots'." No. VIII declared. "What's done is done. No need to dwell on it. And honestly, let's just be glad that we do know the truth now. Cause we'd be as blind as the rest of them. Even if it is confusing as all hell still."

Silence reigned around them, digesting No. VIII's words.

"Where do you think we should start on investigating-"

Their musings came to an end when they heard one of their Omni-tools pinging. Checking them, they saw it was coming from Roxas' and the caller was from Riku.

Accepting the call, they saw the silver haired islander appear on the screen.

"Well, well, look who's back in town."

"Hey, Riku." Roxas greeted.

"What do you mean 'back in town'? It's as if you knew we came back to this world." Axel asked in an accusatory manner.

"Down here." Came the response. "Like, all the way down here."

The three Nobody's peered over the edge and saw all the way down at the entrance to the train station none other than Riku standing there looking directly up at them.

With him was also, surprisingly, King Mickey.

"Huh." Axel murmured. "Did ya see us go up?"

"Sorta." This time Mickey responded. "It was more like these nifty Omni-Tools made a pinging sound that notified us that you were here."

"Oh yeah, I forgot it can do that." Xion remarked, bringing out her own Omni-Tool.

"I think you guys haven't gotten the Gummi-Tech installed into it yet to traverse galaxies yet." Axel added in.

"That was pretty much the idea." Mickey admitted. "Della's been working on it since she returned home."

"Any reason why you're calling?"

"Aside from saying hello, yeah, there is." Riku replied. "So c'mon down, you three. We need to chat in person."

Shrugging, Roxas ended the call before leaping down from the Clocktower's ledge with Xion and Axel soon following.

They landed before the King and islander with both of them nodding in greeting.

"Glad to see you're all back." Mickey greeted jovially. "But where's your friends? They didn't come back."

"Nah, just us."

"Any reason for it?' Riku asked.

"A number of them." Xion answered.

"Then it's better we hear about it at Master Yen Sid's tower." Mickey declared. "Sora, Donald, Goofy and Namine are there waiting for us. They just came back from Olympus Coliseum."

"Heartless mission?" Roxas asked with Riku nodding in affirmation.

"It's getting hectic around here." Said the silver haired teen with a tired look. The group began walking towards the station as he continued on. "We'll tell ya a bit more on the train."

Entering the train station, they took the same tricked out train car to get over to Yen Sid's Tower.

"So, how bad is it?" Axel asked straight away once they seated themselves in the train.

"Pretty bad." Mickey said with a stern expression. "Even though the Heartless had taken a serious blow due to us closing the door to Kingdom Hearts, the Organization has been bolstering their numbers and unleashing them across multiple Worlds."

"We'd normally go either together or in two separate teams." Riku added in. "But the last few runs through the Worlds have been causing us to split up more and more to cover more ground."

Seems the three Nobodies came over at the right opportune time.

"Sounds like you've been having your hands full." Xion said, a sense of internal guilt in leaving the Worlds in such a state.

"What about the Organization itself?" Axel asked intensely. "Have you run into any of them? Any moves you're aware of?"

Mickey shook his head.

"Only one has spoken with us and he had his hood up." Mickey stated.

"You catch onto how he talked and acted?" No. VIII's eyes narrowed slightly as the King rubbed his chin in thought.

"Really slowly." Riku said. "Kinda. And he talked like he was trying to recite a poem or something."

"And he had his hands tucked behind his hands like this." Mickey showed this by angling his arms in a rather sharp manner and held them behind his back.

Axel rolled his eyes, instantly recognizing who it was. "That would be Xaldin."

"Oh yeah, he always did stand with his arms like that." Xion recalled, tapping her finger on her chin. "How in the World did that not hurt his arms?"

"What did he talk about?" Roxas asked.

"He was cryptic for the most part." Riku said flatly. "But he did ask about you guys. And about what we've been doing to counteract their plans on the rest of the Worlds."

"Figured as much."

Their ride soon came to a stop. Upon exiting the train car, the group made their way to the tower. Once going through the defensive measures, they reached the top where Yen Sid's office was located.

Upon entering, they saw the others were there awaiting for the three Nobodies.

"Gawrsh, you're all back." Goofy, the Captain of King Mickey's Royal Guard exclaimed cheerfully.

"Hey everyone." Axel said with a lazy salute.

"Axel." Namine cheerfully ran over to the tall red head and threw her around his waist in for a tight hug.

"Hey blonde." The Flurry of Dancing Flames ruffled the girls hair.

She giggled happily at the action before spotting Xion.

"Xion!"

"Hiya Namine." Xion said, laughing as they both hugged each other, rubbing their cheeks against each other.

"Glad to see all of you are alright." Donald greeted cheerfully.

When Sora gazed at Roxas, he was apparently silent and looked away from his Nobody. The sandy blonde curled a brow in confusion, wondering what was up. His Somebody's expression was practically as red as his shorts.

Which now that he noticed it, looked a bit smaller on him then last time.

"Your arrival was quite impeccable." Spoke Yen Sid as he greeted the new arrivals. "I take it you came here with a purpose?"

Roxas turned away from Sora and to the aging wizard with a firm nod of confirmation.

"Yeah, the three of us agreed that since things seem a bit quiet for the most part with Shepard and the others, we come here and help out with the Organization and Heartless."

"How bad has it been?" Xion asked straight away. "We only got the small cliff notes."

Yen Sid closed his eyes in deep thought.

"As of late, the frequency of the Heartless has been scaling upwards." Yen Sid stated. "We've had to fight at a near constant rate with the team overexerting themselves to their absolute limits."

"Hey now, it's not all bad." Riku said, trying to put up a brave face. "Some of us are faring better than oth-AH!"

The "cool and aloof" islander was promptly silenced thanks to an unamused Namine grabbing his cheek and pulling on it.

"I don't want to hear that." Namine said fiercely. "Or do I need to remind you of the three days Donald and I spent healing you up from Wonderland."

The group didn't bother in holding back their laughter at the silver haired teens plight as he rubbed his chin in pain whilst Namine crossed her arms with her cheeks puffed out.

"I take it now you all have been overloaded and overstressed, huh?" Axel asked.

"More or less." Sora spoke up, slumping forward slightly with his arms dangling. "We haven't gotten any time to do any of the training Master Yen Sid and King Mickey promised us."

"An unfortunate situation due to an unforeseen threat." Yen Sid said, regret tinging his voice.

"The last few encounters we've had with the Heartless have been far more dangerous than previous encounters." Mickey said.

"And we've been runnin' to some of those Nobody fellers the Organization controls." Goofy tacked on.

"There was also that member, Xaldin, right? Aside from talking about you, he mentioned that we're doing the job that was originally meant for you two." Riku said, looking directly at Roxas and Xion.

"Taking out the Heartless to recreate Kingdom Hearts… or whatever goal there actually is."

"That recording is really weird." Donald stated, arms crossed in annoyance. "We've listened to it a few times and we still got nothing out of it."

"There are still more pieces to this mystery which need to be found." Yen Sid sagely said. "But it is clear that for now, the goal of the Organization is for the distribution of Heartless and their Hearts are to be taken out by the Keyblade Wielders."

"Hopefully, we can find their true overall goal soon." Roxas said in annoyance. "For now, they're trying to perhaps draw us out from hiding."

"Whatever the case may be, we're getting swamped in running all over the place." Came Sora's complaint. "I'm already running on fumes."

"Perhaps you guys can take some time off and get some needed rest. We can perhaps take things from here for the time being." Xion said confidently, Keyblade appearing in hand.

Yen Sid however held up his hand, gesturing the excited girl down.

"We must not rush so hastily into this." The Wizard stated calmly. "Lest we forget, you yourselves have had to deal with a number of your own trials and tribulations. Though it's not seen, I can sense you three have endured a string of hardships yourselves."

"...It's that obvious, huh?" Axel asked, propping his elbow atop Roxas' head.

The aged wizard merely nodded in response.

"What do you need us to do then, Master Yen Sid?" Xion asked politely.

"First, it is better that we all take the time to rest and recover." Yen Sid said. "From there, we shall begin to restructure our plans as we must deal with the Heartless as well as the Organization's plots for the Worlds.

"Sounds like a plan."

"How long until we reconvene back here?"

"A day or two, perhaps."

"Right."

Mickey soon spoke up. "Until then, I suggest you all come back to our World."

"Your World?" Asked No. XIV. until she let out a gasp of realization. "You mean-"

"Yup." Goofy confirmed cheerfully. "Disna."

"Della will be really happy to see you three again." Donald said happily.

"Should we tell her now or give her a good surprise."

"A surprise is usually the best way to get the best reaction." Mickey said with a beaming smile.

"Go now then, my friends." Yen Sid said, a small smile in place. "A proper rest is long overdue for the lot of you."

"No problem Master." the King said. "Next time you see us, we'll be raring to go. The Organization won't know what hit 'em."

Leaving the wizard's office, the assembled group made their way outside of the tower. Along the way, silence more or less surrounded them all.

During this time, Roxas eyed Sora who tried not making eye contact with him for some reason or another.

Upon reaching outside, the group made their way to the far side of the floating island to where the Gummi-ships were parked for their eventual trip to the homeworld of Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

And this seemed the right time for the Nobody to confront his Somebody.

"Hey Sora?"

"Huh? Oh, Oh, Roxas!" Sora squeaked, face becoming beat red. "H-hey d-dude, how's it going? Looking good man. S-Seriously, real good. Very good. So good in fact, that I just gotta look away cause you are just good."

Bewildered would be putting it mildly for the reaction Sora got from Roxas in the way he was reacting.

He turned to Sora's friends and pointed at him.

"Um… care to explain this?"

"I don't know." Donald shot an accusatory look at the brown haired teen. "He's been acting like this for a few days now."

"What happened to him?" Axel asked.

"Gawrsh, he hasn't really told us." Goofy said, rubbing the back of his head. "I just remember waking up to see him all flustered and such and kept muttering Kairi under his breath."

"So it was a wet dream then?" Axel rhetorically asked, a sly look on his face though most of the group didn't get the joke straight away.

Only Riku seemed to pick up on it and gave the red head a slight smirk.

"So he's just been thinking of Kairi then?" Xion asked, looking about the group for an answer.

Riku snorted. "I thought it was funny at first, but then it started getting annoying."

"Ya got that right." Donald said dryly. "I know ya miss Kairi ya big palooka but if you wanna see her that bad, you can you know!"

Adopting a pondering posture, Goofy added more thought to it. "In a way, it reminded me of when my little Maxie started gushing and crushing on Roxanne." He then started to chuckle. "Same goes with you, Donald, when you first laid your eyes on Daisy."

"WHACK!" Donald now sported a blush of his own, though he was hard pressed to deny it as he remembered the first time he saw his special sweetheart.

Before anyone else could say anymore on the situation, Sora let out an exasperated groan until pointing dramatically at Roxas.

"It's all your fault!"

No. XIII jolted back from this sudden accusation. "My fault? What'd I do?"

"You made me think about… things!" Sora said childishly.

"What things? I don't know what you're talking-"

"You and-and-and-and… and her!"

"What now?" Riku looked to his best friend in bemusement.

"Her? Her who?"

"T-Tali… i-in the engine room."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

As this happened, Roxas soon realized what Sora was referring to. Remembering they can both share their memories with each other, even if it was unintentional.

Steam began emanating off the poor Nobody as he was the one who now jabbed an accusatory finger at his Somebody.

"YOU SAW THAT?!"

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

"T-THAT WAS PRIVATE! SORA, HOW COULD YOU?!"

"I DIDN'T HAVE ANY CONTROL OVER IT. IT JUST HAPPENED!"

"Roxas…"

Turning around, No. XIII paled slightly when seeing Xion and Axel appearing within his personal bubble.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of us?" Axel's grin threatened to break his face in half whilst Xion gave him an intent look that pierced into his very non-existent core.

"...N-No…"

Soon after, the floating island was met with screams, yells and laughter as Roxas was being chased all over the landmass as his friends sought the answers they seeked.

All the while, Roxas was also in hot pursuit of Sora with Keyblade in hand.

Maybe he can bash that memory out of the Islander's skull.

Or perhaps have Namine do it for him instead. She did have memory powers after all…

No, bashing them out of Sora's skull seemed to be the more proper and assured means of keeping that private memory to himself.

Roxas was certain of it.

-Scene Cut-

-Milky Way Galaxy-

The system of Mass Relays was the system that connected the entire galaxy together.

It was what allowed for the traverse across the stars and for advanced civilizations to map out this galaxy they had called home.

Even still, the centuries of exploration, many have spoken of just how little of the galaxy had been truly mapped out. There were so many areas that remained unfilled that many hoped would be properly filled in.

Then of course, there were the known sectors and systems in the galaxy…

Known only to a select handful of individuals.

Within a lone system was one of these hidden and secretive parts of the galaxy that a rare few were aware of.

Within the system was a gargantuan red giant star that burned endlessly as it continued towards its inevitable demise. Granted that was still a number of million years off but the red hue was enough of an indicator with how much time it had left on a universal scale.

Orbiting around the red giant were a number of celestial bodies that naturally formed around the star.

As well as a number of artificial constructs with one in particular being shaped as a large base of sorts.

Plastered on several sides of the base was a strange, hexagonal diamond shaped symbol with orange and black coloring.

The symbol that belonged to Cerberus.

Inside of his private space of the Cerberus station, a lone, middle aged man was looking over reports from his various teams spread throughout the galaxy. With a glass of bourbon placed on the table before him and a cigar in hand, the leader of Cerberus, also known as the Illusive Man, held a calm visage as he read over the many mission files that his agents had brought in for him.

One such mission report was the latest developments over on Mars in the home system of humanity with this Remnant tower.

Once again, he had to thank Shepard and her ragtag team for providing such unique findings.

Not only do they have access to researching Gummi technology but this newly discovered Rem-tech.

A number of his agents are already on Mars, studying and making decent strides in scratching the surface the tower holds.

Granted, they haven't had the best in terms of breakthroughs as the Cerberus scientists have been absolutely flummoxed by this Gummi-Tech. They kept on mentioning that it required something to properly boost or jumpstart the block they do have their hands on. As to what that was supposed to be was anyone's guess.

Until contact could be made with Ms. Duck, then any further research on Gummi-tech will perhaps be put on hold.

If not, then maybe have some agents get in touch with members of the Normandy crew, due to how close they were with the avian… Duck… woman.

This galaxy was getting crazier than usual.

Regardless, either of them should at least know more than what Della provided to the Alliance and the other races.

Speaking of the other races of the galaxy, he knew that he would have to pay the Flotilla a visit when the time comes. Miss Tali'Zorah would have undoubtedly brought back some invaluable technology during her travels aboard the Normandy.

"Illusive Man, a word with you, if you have the time."

The man formerly known as Jack Harper set down his datapad and looked up at the head scientist of Cerberus' more… experimental matters.

"Professor Hojo." Illusive Man greeted cordially. "How may I be of assistance for you today?"

"A matter of relocation." Hojo said straight away. "I take it you are aware of the unfortunate end that came about one of my research facilities."

Illusive Man took in a deep inhale of his cigar, blowing out thick smoke a second later.

"Yes. Shepard and her team strolled upon it, which led you to your… tests."

"Yes." Hojo dryly said. "Strolled upon it and destroyed it."

"You're alive are you not?" Cerberus' leader asked rhetorically. "And your research remains intact no? Do you still have the backup data?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then what else is there to worry about. You can restart your research at a better lab."

"But security will be needed in case of a repeat."

"Done." Illusive Man said straight away. "I will make sure to-"

In an instant before them, a Dark Corridor erupted from the floor.

Gazing upon the spectacle, Professor Hojo stroked his chin in utmost curiosity. "Fascinating…"

The Illusive Man merely withdrew a pistol he kept from underneath his seat. Turning the safety off, he stood up and prepared for what may happen next.

The Dark Corridor continued to just… be there, when seconds later, it vanished with a man standing before them in a very familiar black coat with the hood obscuring the face entirely.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." The hooded man said casually. Turning his head around, he gazed towards the red sun outside. "Nice place you got here. Hell of a view if I do say so myself."

"Who are you?" TIM asked tensely, pistol still trained on the hooded man.

He recognized the attire, being similarly worn by three of Shepard's teammates… and the man who attacked the Citadel not so long ago. Thus he had to at least be on guard on this person's capabilities, especially with how he was able to find this station and breach through its defenses.

"Hmmm?" The hooded man turned to the leader of Cerberus, as if only now realizing the Illusive Man was there. "Oh, right, the old dude. Yeah, was sent here by my superiors."

"Your superiors?" Hojo asked with open intrigue.

"Right, you don't know about the whole hierarchy thing we got in the Organization."

If it weren't for the footage he received on the Citadel after its recent attack, TIM would've been more confused than the scientist beside him. For he at least knew a handful of things the former Organization members had let out to the Council.

"Organization?" Hojo murmured.

"Yeah." The man reached up for his hood and threw it back to reveal a jagged scar running up on his left cheek, long black and silver ponytail and eyepatch around the man's right eye. The other was sickly gold in color. "Got a proposition for ya old man. Think you're gonna like it."

AN

Alright then, got another chapter done and we have now entered into part two of the story.

One that is undoubtedly going to be a lot damn longer than part two.

The prelude to KH2 and ME2 and the two storylines proper with ALL the arcs in between.

It's been a joy to be back in the Mass Effect universe, having best girl Tali by my side again and well now, looks like she finally made the move.

Thirty one chapters later.

And now they're not gonna see each other for a while. Because that's not generic at all.

But in the end, Jeb and I still have a plan. Extensive one to be sure that's gonna be convoluted as hell to execute but when it's all said and done, I think I'll be able to comfortably look back at this story the two of us made and say, "that's some of the best work we ever did together".

Jebest4781: Well said, my friend. And boy it'll be an extensive one as we'll be going over a lot of content.

FMW: Yeah, Mass Effect 2 and Kingdom Hearts 2, when we get to them, will be… insane. Just insane really.

So honestly, thanks again for reading this story and sticking with us up to now and hope you guys stay for the entire ride.

Really, I truly believe that because Jeb and I are so synchronized with both franchises, this'll probably be the first story we'll complete together.

Also, Kingdom Hearts Union X's ending was a fuckton of reveals.

SPOILER ALERT!

THE DREAM EATERS ARE SLEEPING KEYBLADE WIELDERS! HOLY FUCK!

And that's just ONE of the mind blowing reveals.

Anywho, thanks again for reading.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.